First osteological evidence of severed hands in Ancient Egypt

For the first time, the severed right hands of 12 individuals have been analysed osteologically. The hands were deposited in three pits within a courtyard in front of the throne room of a 15th Dynasty (c.1640–1530 BC) Hyksos palace at Avaris/Tell el-Dab‘a in north-eastern Egypt. Although this kind of practice is known from tomb or temple inscriptions and reliefs from the New Kingdom onwards, this is the first time that physical evidence has been used to learn more about the procedure and the individuals whose hands were taken. Here, we show that the right hands belonged to at least 12 adults, 11 males, and possibly one female. It is unclear if the hands were taken from dead or living individuals. After removing any attached parts of the forearm, the hands were placed in the ground with wide-splayed fingers, mainly on their palmar sides. The osteological analysis not only supports the archaeological interpretation of this evidence but also adds more detail regarding trophy-taking practices in Ancient Egypt.

Tab. 3 Standard deviation score (SDS) and mean of the 2D:4D ratio, hand maximal width and metacarpus maximal width in mm.

B. Documentation of the hands
In-lab pictures colour legend: each hand is coloured to show the bones present for analysis. Schemes colour legend: dark grey: bone surface preserved; light grey: bone surface eroded but bone was present; white: bone not present for analysis

L1542 I n s i t u I n l a b
Hand L1542-1 (yellow): a single right hand placed on its palmar surface. Preservation is very poor; the distal and proximal ends of the single bones are destroyed. The hand ends with the carpals; no evidence of lower arm bones. The carpals cannot be assessed for cut marks due to their poor preservation. The fingers are spread, the first digit 38° abducted. The hand is hyper-extended in the metacarpophalangeal joints. The phalangeal joints are slightly flexed to straight. The largest distance is between the second and third phalanges. Ulnar deviation, particularly of the third to fifth finger.
Hand L1542-2 (red): a single right hand placed on its palmar surface. Preservation is very poor; the distal and proximal ends of the single bones are destroyed. The hand ends with the carpals; no evidence of lower arm bones. The carpals cannot be assessed for cut marks due to their poor preservation. The fingers are spread, and the first digit is 30° abducted. The hand is hyper-extended in the metacarpophalangeal joints. The phalangeal joints are slightly flexed to straight. Slight ulnar deviation of all fingers.
Hand L1542-3 (blue): a single right second finger placed on its radial surface, possibly discarded and belonging to another hand. The distal part of the metacarpal bone is missing. The phalanx next to it is too far away to be the proximal, and for being the middle it is too close to the metacarpal. Based on its length, it appears to represent a proximal phalanx.

L1543-1
A single right hand placed on its palmar surface. Preservation is good; the surfaces are well preserved despite the adhering glue. The hand ends with the carpals; no evidence of lower arm bones. The carpals cannot be assessed for cut marks due to their poor preservation. The fingers are spread, and the first digit 36° abducted. The largest distance is between the second and third phalanges. Ulnar deviation, particularly of the third to fifth fingers.

L1543-2
A single right hand placed on its palmar surface between two big animal bones, lying between ceramic sherds. The preservation of the hand is poor. Because the carpals and metacarpals have not been preserved, they cannot be assessed for cut marks. The hand is small, with fingers closed rather than spread.
A single right hand placed on its palmar surface. Preservation is poor; the carpals were damaged post-mortem on their dorsal surface. The second to third digits are missing due to post-mortem destruction. The hand ends with the carpals; no evidence of lower arm bones. The carpals cannot be assessed for cut marks due to their poor preservation. The fingers are spread, lying stretched and flat.

L1543-4
The proximal and middle phalanges of the fourth and fifth fingers of a right hand are placed on the palmar side. The distal part of the fourth metacarpal, as well as the capitate, lunate and triquetral bone, are present. These bones were not hardened with glue and were, thus, falling apart. The hand ends with the carpals; no evidence of lower arm bones. No evidence for cut marks on the proximal carpals. The fingers are spread, lying stretched and flat.
Hand L1543-single phalanges (a: yellow, b: pink, c: green, d: red) Phalanges L1543-a: proximal (length 34mm) and distal phalanges of the first digit (yellow) lying on their dorsal surface and reaching below the fingers of hand L1543-8 (violet).
Phalanx L1543-b: a single proximal phalanx (length 34mm) of the first digit lying on its palmar side (pink).
Phalanx L1543-c: a single proximal phalanx (length 51mm) possibly of the second to fourth digit (green), lying on its palmar surface, might belong to hand L1543-5 (green) and shifted distally.
Phalanges L1543-d: a single first right digit (red) of metacarpal bone (length 48 mm) and a proximal phalanx lying on the palmar surface. It is placed below the metacarpals of hand L1543-7 (yellow), but probably does not belong to it as it is lying vertical and shifted to the metacarpals. It was either disarticulated before the placement of the hands or later, and discarded. It definitely could not have fallen into this position by natural decomposing processes.

L1543-e
A single second right finger lying on its radial surface. The metacarpophalangeal joint is hyper-extended by 28°. The proximal interphalangeal joint is straight.